Laura Brailey is the new Senior Manager National Sales at Mazda Motors UK.

Laura, who lives in Tunbridge Wells, joined Mazda in 1995 to cover for maternity leave and has been there ever since.

“It’s unusual to stay with a brand this long but it has always been a great team to work with. I’ve had a new job every two to three years and with that type of career you never stop learning” Brailey explained, adding: “I’ve planned my career because Mazda has allowed me to do that.”

Laura is already a familiar face in Mazda’s 140 dealerships. Previous roles have included North-West Business Manager, Used Car & Fleet Marketing Manager and Regional Business Manager South.

In her new role she manages a team of 14 Business and Regional Managers and has pledged to make improving dealer profitability a number one priority. Focusing on core volume models Mazda2, Mazda3 and Mazda MX-5 while launching all-new Mazda6 and the other SKYACTIV cars that follow next year will be a key part of her strategy.

“All-new Mazda CX-5 and Mazda6 are fantastic products with healthy margins for dealers, but they still need to focus on volume with Mazda2 and Mazda3,” Brailey said.

She believes that women tend to be more people orientated rather than process driven so her way of getting results is “to tackle problems from a people perspective first.”

Running a sales team remotely is a challenge but Laura says that she “likes to empower people. I see my role as communicating strategy and motivating my team. I also want to make sure they get recognised for their successes they have delivered with their dealers – they are all entrepreneurs in their own way and I want to shout about it”.

The MPG figures quoted are sourced from official EU-regulated test results obtained through laboratory testing. These are provided for comparability purposes only and may not reflect your actual driving results.